Nanjing Requiem by Ha Jin

Ha Jin is an incredible writer, one of my favourites.

Waiting won the National Book Award in 1999, and the previous book, A Free Life, was a terrific read about a Chinese couple moving to and living in the US. I think it's his best book. He has a way of expressing emotion through a simple line of dialogue or action, deeper than the plot, and seems to hit at the centre of the character, simple and true.

His books explore the difficult periods of Chinese history and difficulties within the culture. When I first saw Nanjing Requiem, I was excited about a new Ha Jin book, but this is a subject I try to avoid. I wanted to be immersed in his novel but didn't want to be a witness this time.

The novel is based on the personal diary of an American woman, Minnie Vautrin, and the people who wrote about her work as a missionary and Dean of Jinling Women's College in Nanjing in 1937. While it is fiction, it reads like a historical account of what actually took place.

Nanjing Requiem takes place over two years and begins with the Japanese invasion of China on a massive scale to brutally wipe out the enemy entirely. It is known as the Rape of Nanjing. As the Japanese bomb villages and waterways, they warned the Chinese to capitulate, otherwise all the horrors of war will be unleashed upon you mercilessly. We will not spare one chicken or dog.

Chinese Generals Chiang Kai-shek and General Tsang made a hasty escape to safety, opening the gates to the city and leaving everyone to fend for themselves. The Chinese army was made up of soldiers as well as untrained farmers and workers from different areas, who didn't speak each other's dialects, and with the leaders gone, they quickly fell apart. Many removed their uniforms and retreated if they could. Others joined in the killing and looting. The Japanese would enter a village and loot everything of value, rape and beat the women and children, and tie the men up with iron wire and execute en masse. The atrocities were as bad as you can imagine, with hundreds of thousands being maimed, raped, and killed on a rampage.

A special safety zone was created in the center of Nanjing to protect the embassies and included the college. Rather than flee, Minnie and her staff decided to open the college up to refugees, thinking they had room for about 2,500 women and children. The men would go to other refugee camps, splitting up families. As the refugees poured in, they increased the number until over 10,000 refugees were housed and in makeshift tents on the grounds. There was minimal food, water, and supplies. Their ration of rice from the Red Cross was being siphoned off, and the ponds were being used for cleaning as well as drinking. The staff tried their best to keep some semblance of order, to work with the embassies, and deal with marauding soldiers. Maintaining safety was a priority in the camp with daily intrusions from outside. At one point, several Japanese generals came to Minnie and said they were going to take 100 prostitutes from the camp to be entertainers for the Japanese army. While Minnie protested that there were no prostitutes in the camp, the general said he knew how to identify them by sight, and as they argued, the women who had already been chosen were being led out the front gate. Many other refugee camps were raided with the men sent to work prisons, and several refugees in the camp helped Minnie fight to release them. There were seemingly endless struggles.

Throughout the two years, Minnie and her staff try to maintain security and order, dealing with the embassies to feed and protect the refugees. Since the story is told through the eyes of Anling, a staff member working closely with Minnie, the horrors of the war are lessened for the reader. We hear about what is happening in outlying villages, but are spared being there while it happens.

With all the psychological effects war brings, there is no happy ending.

I think it's important to know the real history of events and places; however, it can be disturbing. While this was an excellently written book, it is a heavy subject.

Ha Jin has a way of bringing you right to the heart of the story, which is not always comfortable or enjoyable. Due to the subject, it is hard to recommend this book. I am certainly glad I read it and encourage anyone who appreciates great writing to check out Ha Jin. Start with his award-winning Waiting, or his short stories A Good Fall.

2011 / Hardcover / 320 pages